Author: The Record
Published April 7, 2024

By William Crooks

Local Journalism Initiative

The Mae Sot Education Project (MSEP) celebrated 20 years of operation April 6 at its annual benefit dinner held at the Old Lennox Golf & Ski clubhouse. Over 80 supporters attended the event, which included traditional Burmese and Thai food, volunteer testimonials and a video presentation, a raffle, and live music.

MSEP is a youth volunteer project that assists refugee and migrant children from Myanmar (Burma) living in Mae Sot, Thailand, and helps Canadians better understand the plight of people displaced by repression and conflict.

“We’ve been doing this dinner since 2010,” said Project Coordinator Mary Purkey in an April 6 interview with The Record. She added that a few years were missed during the pandemic and MSEP has found supporters “really look forward to it.”

This is the first time the event has been held at the Lennoxville Golf Course. Previously, it took place at Lennoxville’s Oasis Christian Centre.

Over 80 supporters gathered for the Mae Sot Education Project’s annual benefit dinner to celebrate its 20th year of existence

The MSEP Team, with assistance from friends, created and prepared a menu featuring creamy Thai green curry pea soup with coconut, lime, and coriander; classic Burmese ginger salad (Gin Thok) and traditional pickled tealeaf salad (Lephetoe) with tomatoes and cabbage; Thai Panang Curry with chicken, peanuts, and sweet peppers, along with Burmese Golden Egg Curry with coconut milk for main courses, served with jasmine rice; and mango pudding with cashews and a hint of cardamom for dessert.

The MSEP received a small grant for one of its volunteers to do an archiving of the history of the project, Purkey said, which will look at the MSEP’s impact on volunteers and the children served in Mae Sot. She hopes it will result in a “lessons learned” document that will be made public and circulated.

Local history professor David Webster has been integral in making the history project happen. The video presentation during the dinner was a “teaser” of the forthcoming completed work.

“The important thing [about MSEP] is that it’s very community-based,” Purkey said. Many of the people attending the dinner have been supporting the project for nearly 20 years. They have donated money, time, and their talents.

A family of Burmese origin, headed by Soemyint, prepared much of the food for the event. Soemyint and his wife came to live in Canada, with the help of MSEP committee member Garry Retzleff, after their son studied at Bishop’s University as a sponsored student. Soemyint’s daughter and her husband, and their 15-year-old daughter, just applied as asylum seekers to Canada in December.

Florence Côté and Maika Beland, two MSEP volunteers, will be traveling to Mae Sot for the first time in the near future.

“I was looking for this experience to help abroad,” Beland explained. She chose Thailand after seeing what the MSEP was accomplishing on its website.

Mae Sot Education Project volunteers, many dressed in traditional Burmese longhis, served food at the benefit dinner  

Côté heard about the MSEP at school. “It’s so awesome, educating people that need it,” she said.

Both will be in Mae Sot, teaching English for around 20 hours a week at different schools, for three months. Beland will work with older teenagers, who have a more advanced level of English.

Côté looks forward most to getting to know the children. “Their life experience is so different from mine,” she said. “It will be a life-changing experience,” Beland added.

More information on the MSEP can be found on their website: https://maesoteducation.ca/

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